As in most Tuesdays, this Wendsday's morning blog belongs to my brother, Mormeg;) He writes about Dark Angel miniature visible next to this note.-InkubThis miniature was painted on the spur of the moment, after reading - again - "Descent of Angels". This Dark Angel will have two functions on the table. First and most important - in WH40K games this will be a leader of Fallen Angels squad. A friend of mine collects and paints Dark Angels, so it will be a pleasure to watch how the servants to the False Emperor die trying to get Fallen ones. I'm going to paint few more Fallen Angels obviously - a box of Dark Angels veterans is already waiting for its turn on my "to do" shelf. All I will have to to will be to find some clever excuse to mix my Night Lords and Angels on the battlefield.Second, "historically" accurate role for this miniature, will be Dark Angel from the times of Thramas Crusade. He will fight against my Night Lords. My inspirations in this case were books and audiobooks from Black Library, but the biggest one were excellent miniature which can be found, for example, here. I think they just ooze atmosphere. Additionally, Horus Heresy era Dark Angels are cheap. Many plastic bits from GW boxes mixes freely with Forge World miniatures. Dark Angels' robes cover most of Astartes armour and GW miniature may be used as "historically" correct figures.Painting miniature itself was really cool. Simple colours, nice contrast between light robes and dark armour. I rather like final effect, especially considering that I'm not a huge fan of this particular miniature, which was bought without actually seeing it. There is one part of this figure which I do not really like - the one which should, in theory, be one of the cooler parts of it - checkered shoulder pad. This is my first try at painting something like this. I used to be relatively happy how it turned out, but after comparing it to the ones on the net, the bitter truth is obvious. Checkboard pattern is badly painted and it looks just so-so... Well, first try, next ones will be better, maybe.-Mormeg

Silence period on my blog was rather long, wasn't it? More then two weeks of absolute nothing being published. The reasons are twofold. First is simple, holidays with my family. Second is much more complicated... Last two, three months were really hard and dark for my family and myself. Fortunately, I hope that this period is finished at last and I can return to more active blogging - both showing figures with splashes of paint on them and publishing notes from my ongoing series. I'm still on the fence regarding "Chosen from the week". These notes are really time consuming to do... There were times when all notes from this series have had more then 2000 views, the few last ones were limited to slightly more then 300 (some even much less). It was really disheartening... So, if "Chosen..." will be back, this series will be changed a little bit I think.But let's go back to the miniatures. Another soldier from the period of American War of Independence, another ranger. This is Perry bros 28 mm scale miniature, of course, painted - as all previously shown here, for a commission. And let me add that the owner of this figure is really, really very patient man.Miniature itself is rather good, especially in comparison to other figures from this Perrys' range. The only downfall is weapon, of course. Still, it doesn't look bad I think. Painting this one was good excercise in layering whites and greys, as I wanted to paint most of his stuff in unbleached finish...

Another miniature of American ranger from the period of War of Independence. As the previously shown miniatures from this war, this one has been produced by Perry Miniatures and is painted for commission. Quality wise it is one of the best I have seen from this range but (there is always some kind of "but") weapons is seriously bad again. Nonetheless miniature is really nice and a joy to paint - lots of folds on hunting shirt which are great to shade and highlight, slightly less distinctive folds on the leggins though.

And if somone is interested how I managed to paint the same miniature earlier this year - it is here.

Before the rise of the Imperium or even the emergence of Mankind into the galaxy, the Eldar had established a mighty civilization that spanned many planetary systems. Their huge citiships and craft-worlds, vast ornate palaces floating between star systems, traded new knowledge and goods. Learning, enlightenment and reason flourished. The Eldar enriched the galaxy and looked for new worlds to make their own and new challenges to meet.

One challenge they took up was the complete mastery of warp-gate technology. The Eldar adopted, refined and perfected the ancient Slaan knowledge of the warp and its movements. They established a network of wormhole tunnels through warpspace, linking gates aboard their craft-worlds, planets and smaller spaceships. It was possible for an Eldar to walk from one planet to another, across hundreds or thousands of light-years of real space. The warp-gates bound the Eldar together as a single civilization, stretching across space and, it was theorized, backwards and forwards in time. The Eldar, fearful of the consequences, never experimented with the temporal aspect of warp-gates.

Their studies did, however, bring them an understanding of the link between the warp and psychic power. In making this conceptual leap, the Eldar also discovered the power of Chaos, in all its seductive glory. The Eldar, for all their apparent culture, had never encountered its like. Some turned from the warp with disgust when the corrupting nature of Chaos and its effects on reality became evident, but others responded with new vigour. The manifestations of Chaos - insanity, wickedness and depravity - spread like wildfire through the Eldar and was carried further by tainted individuals with access to the warp-gates. In the space of a single generation the Eldar paused in their quest for enlightenment and chose the darker path into the service of Chaos.

Eldar who remained untouched by Chaos, retreated to the citiships and larger craft-worlds. The insanity of Chaos had no foothold or appeal aboard the vast ships. The warp-gates to the infected Eldar worlds were closed and locked. The citiships were absorbed into the larger craft-worlds, and all drifted into the depths of space, lifeboats and seed-pods of civilization.

The rest of their race sank wholeheartedly into the dark worship of the Chaos gods. A racial madness had taken hold throughout Eldar space ad the insanity had only one end. In a mindless psychic orgy every Eldar planet perished in a single night. The death screams of the Eldar echoed across the warp. On every planet Eldar corpses twitched in the mindless dance of Chaos and crumbled to dust. Worlds were laid waste in moments. The Eldar race were sucked into the warp.

The dead Eldar, however, were not gone. Their spirits had merged with the warp in a horrifying manner. Their death-shout became a howl of joy and release. Slaanesh, the Lord of Pleasure, god of unbridled depravity, was born from the dark side of Eldar nature. The psychic pain of the Eldar's racial death and Slaanesh's birth convulsed the warp; the warp storms around Earth were blown away, and warpspace itself rippled into new patterns.

The last of the Eldar drifted into the long night between the stars. The racial memory of their former glory and nobility sustained them, while the downfall of the race filled them with bitterness. They had come face-to-face with their darkest desires and been found wanting.

For them, Mankind is a reminder of what happened long ago. Humanity is treading the same path toward the darkness of Chaos, a crude mirror of the Eldar's own disgrace. They are burdened by racial shame for the weakness of their failed ancestors. The bright hopeful universe is a place of stark, gibbering horror, and the Eldar fell when confronted with this truth. Surviving Eldar have grown since then, accepting and holding in check the Chaos that lurks within their hearts, a delicate balancing act that they seem to have mastered at last.

Mankind rushes towards the fate of the Eldar, but without the ability to preserve itself in any form. All the signs are there to be read: humanity's moral leprosy of Chaos worship, its rising number of emergent psykers, its lust for universal power, and its fragile, failing Emperor...

Third miniature from the second batch of American rangers from AWI period. Pfff, I think I'm slowly getting lost between all these commissioned miniatures, batches of them, repeated poses... Figure itself is rather dissapointing regarding its quality... One of the bad casts of Perry brothers I think - some little holes, some miscasts, face is just a crude representation of human face, fingers look like magnified 15 mm scale...

Hmm, as the most famous twins in the history of wargaming industry just left GW, Perrys will find some time to actually check quality of miniatures casted under their own label...